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t36 MR. C. C. LACAITA : A REVISION OF 
Solander “italicum” and “ Echium lusitanicum L. M." This is precisely 
E. Broteri, of which there are two other old specimens in Herb. Sloane, 
both from Petiver’s collections. These are mentioned in detail in my notes 
on the Hehia of Linnæus. 
Miller's fifth Echium is * Eoutum enETICUM calycibus fructescentibus dis- 
tantibus, caule procumbente, Linn. Hort. Upsal. 35; Echium Creticum 
latifolium rubrum C. B. P. 254. The fifth sort grows naturally in Crete ; 
this hath trailing hairy stalks, which grow about a foot long, and put out 
several side branches, garnished with hairy spear-shaped leaves about 
three inches long, and three-quarters of an inch broad, sitting close to 
the stalks. The flowers come out on slender spikes upon long foot-stalks 
which come from the wings of the leaves; they are large, of a reddish- 
purple colour, which turns to a fine blue when they are dried; these stand 
at a distance from each other on the spike. It is an annual plant which 
flowers in July and decays in autumn.” 
Echium ereticum, L., is a mixture of two very different species, which 
Clusius had distinguished, one being W. ereticum angustifolium rubrum, 
C. B. P., which is Miller's sixth sort; the other Æ. creticum latifolium 
rubrum, C. D. P., which is represented by the specimen in Herb. Linn. 
This is a cultivated plant, which cannot have been derived from any 
Cretan kind, but is obviously a garden modification of X. grandiflorum, Dest. 
(See my notes on the ehia of Linnzeus.) 
According to the synonymy, Miller's Æ. ereticum should be the X. ereticum 
of Herb. Linn. His statement that it grows naturally in Crete is a mere 
parrot echo of what he had read. Clusius himself was uncertain about 
the supposed Cretan origin. But, although the synonyms point to 
E. creticum, Linn. herb., I fear that Miller mixed up with it Æ. plantagineum, 
which is plentiful, though misnamed, in the old herbaria and not otherwise 
referred to in his dictionary. Indeed, his English description is more 
than suspiciously like Æ. plantagineum. The spear-shaped leaves he 
mentions would exclude that species if he were speaking of radical leaves, 
but he means the stem-leaves. The purplish flowers of plantagineum 
often—not always—turn a “fine blue” when dried ; those of /. ereticum, 
Linn. Herb., do not. 
The only Cretan kind, other than plantagineum, that could be thought 
of for a moment is Æ. parviflorum, Moench, especially in its luxuriant form, 
var. erectum, DO. This, indeed, is the Æ. eretieum of the * Flora Greeea,’ but 
not of Linnzus. It is, however, absolutely excluded by what Miller says of 
the flowers and by the reference to the synonyms. 
The specimens in the old herbaria, of which a fuller account will be found 
in my notes on the Hehia of Linnæus, confirm the suspicion of a muddle. 
There are none at the British Museum marked * Herb, Miller," One from 
